Description: On May 9, 1863, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston received a dispatch
from the Confederate Secretary of War directing him to “proceed at once
to Mississippi and take chief command of the forces in the field.” As he
arrived in Jackson on the 13th, from Middle Tennessee, he learned that
two army corps from the Union Army of the Tennessee—the XV, under Maj.
Gen. William T. Sherman, and the XVII, under Maj. Gen. James Birdseye McPherson—were
advancing on Jackson, intending to cut the city and the railroads off from
Vicksburg. Johnston consulted with the local commander, Brig. Gen. John
Gregg, and learned that only about 6,000 troops were available to defend
the town. Johnston ordered the evacuation of Jackson, but Gregg was to
defend Jackson until the evacuation was completed. By 10:00 am, both Union
army corps were near Jackson and had engaged the enemy. Rain, Confederate
resistance, and poor defenses prevented heavy fighting until around 11:00
am, when Union forces attacked in numbers and slowly but surely pushed
the enemy back. In mid-afternoon, Johnston informed Gregg that the evacuation
was complete and that he should disengage and follow. Soon after, the Yankees
entered Jackson and had a celebration, hosted by Maj. Gen. U.S. Grant who
had been travelling with Sherman’s corps, in the Bowman House. They then
burned part of the town and cut the railroad connections with Vicksburg.
Johnston’s evacuation of Jackson was a tragedy because he could, by late
on the 14th, have had 11,000 troops at his disposal and by the morning
of the 15th, another 4,000. The fall of the former Mississippi state capital
was a blow to Confederate morale.